Articles of footwear have been provided with a wide variety of functional and aesthetic features ranging from decorative arrays of light sources such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) to air bladders located within the outsole of the shoe for enhanced comfort when performing activities such as running. Many improvements to footwear have been sports-specific and intended to assist the wearer with one or more aspects of his or her performance, or to assist in training for a particular sport.
Footwear intended for playing soccer is no exception. A number of designs to assist players in their training exercises have been proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,204,346 to Fugers, U.S. Pat. No. 5,216,827 to Cohen and U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,446 to Wiseman et al disclose soccer shoes with different colored areas on the upper to aid the wearer in identifying and focusing on the desired location where he or she strikes the ball with the foot. U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,043 to Johnson et al teaches an attachment for a shoe which emits sound when the ball strikes it at desired location, but is silent if the ball strike is elsewhere.
Pressure sensors have also been incorporated into soccer shoes and other footwear such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,808,462 to Snyder et al. In this invention, one or more pressure sensors are mounted on the upper of the shoe at locations where it is desired to make contact with the ball. When one of these sensors is activated as a result of a ball strike, an electrical signal is sent to a microprocessor which then causes a loudspeaker to produce a particular sound, e.g. “Way to Go” or the like.